This invention relates to a shelf apparatus for mounting a circuit card thereon.
A shelf apparatus for mounting a circuit card has a kind of frame structure and is used in such a manner that a suitable number of modularized circuits such as a CPU circuit or a memory circuit are inserted parallelly into the shelf apparatus to construct a desired calculating apparatus, for example, for a computer.
Circuit cards for use with a shelf apparatus normally include various input/output apparatus for a disk apparatus, a magnetic tape apparatus, a semiconductor memory apparatus and so forth.
Circuit cards are individually formed to achieve different functions and are selectively loaded into and unloaded from a shelf apparatus so that various types of calculating apparatus having different functions may be constructed with the single shelf apparatus.
Conventional shelf apparatus are described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10. FIG. 7 shows an exemplary one of conventional circuit card mounting shelf apparatus; FIG. 8 shows an interface card for use with the circuit card mounting shelf apparatus; FIG. 9 shows an apparatus circuit card for use with the circuit card mounting shelf apparatus; and FIG. 10 shows an apparatus controlling circuit card for use with the circuit card mounting shelf apparatus. The conventional circuit card mounting shelf apparatus shown includes a basic shelf apparatus 1 which is in the form of a frame structure having a parallelepiped profile and is adapted to mount suitable circuit cards thereon to construct a desired calculating apparatus section.
The circuit card mounting shelf apparatus further includes an extension shelf apparatus 2 which also is in the form of a frame structure having a parallelepiped profile and is adapted to mount suitable extension circuit cards thereon to construct a desired extension calculating apparatus section.
Several circuit cards are mounted on the circuit card mounting shelf apparatus shown in FIG. 7. The circuit cards include an apparatus controlling circuit card 3, a circuit card 4 for an apparatus #0, a circuit 5 for an apparatus #1, an interface card 6, another interface card 7, a circuit card 8 for an apparatus #2, and a circuit card 9 for an apparatus #3.
Referring particularly to FIGS. 7 and 10, the apparatus controlling circuit card 3 is mounted on the basic shelf apparatus 1 and has a connecting terminal 3A for connection to a bus line 10 provided at a rear end thereof. The apparatus controlling circuit card 3 includes an apparatus controlling circuit 3E for controlling operation of the other circuit cards.
Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 9, the circuit card 4 for an apparatus #0 includes a circuit composing portion or arbitrary functioning circuit 4E corresponding to the identification number ID=0 and has a connecting terminal 4A for connection to the bus line 10 at a rear end thereof.
The circuit card 5 for an apparatus #1 includes a circuit composing portion or arbitrary functioning circuit 5E corresponding to the identification number ID=1 and has a connecting terminal 5A for connection to the bus line 10 at a rear end thereof.
Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the interface card 6 is mounted on the basic shelf apparatus 1 and has a connecting terminal 6A for connection to the bus line 10 at a rear end thereof. The interface card 6 includes a connecting circuit or bus line 6C for interconnecting the basic shelf apparatus 1 and the extension shelf apparatus 2.
The other interface card 7 is mounted on the extension shelf apparatus 2 and has a connecting terminal 7A for connection to another bus line 11 at a rear end thereof. The interface card 7 includes a connecting circuit or bus line 7C for interconnecting the basic shelf apparatus 1 and the extension shelf apparatus 2.
Referring back to FIGS. 7 and 9, the circuit card 8 for an apparatus #2 includes a circuit composing portion or arbitrary functioning circuit 8E corresponding to the identification number ID=2 and further has a connecting terminal 8A for connection to the bus line 11 at a rear end thereof.
The circuit card 9 for an apparatus #3 includes a circuit composing portion or arbitrary functioning circuit 9E corresponding to the identification number ID=3 and further has a connecting terminal 9A for connection to the bus line 11 at a rear end thereof.
The bus line 10 is fixed to and extends along a rear face of the basic shelf apparatus 1 and interconnects the cards inserted in the basic shelf apparatus 1. In particular, the bus line 10 interconnects the apparatus controlling circuit card 3, the circuit card 4 for an apparatus #0, the circuit card 5 for an apparatus #1 and the interface card 6 by way of a plurality of connecting terminals 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A, respectively, so as to transmit input/output signals among them.
The other bus line 11 is fixed to and extends along a rear face of the extension shelf apparatus 2 and interconnects the cards inserted in the extension shelf apparatus 2. In particular, the bus line 11 interconnects the interface card 7, the circuit card 8 for an apparatus #2 and the circuit card 9 for an apparatus #3 by way of a plurality of connecting terminals 7A, 8A and 9A, respectively, so as to transmit input/output signals among them.
A further bus line 12 extends between and interconnects the interface card 6 in the basic shelf apparatus 1 and the interface card 7 in the extension shelf apparatus 2 so that it interconnects the bus lines 10 and 11 by way of the bus line 6C in the interface card 6 and the bus line 7C in the interface card 7, respectively.
The connecting terminals 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8A and 9A provided on the circuit cards 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are connected to the rear ends of the bus lines 3C, 4C, 5C, 6C, 7C, 8C and 9C on the cards 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, respectively, and serve as input/output terminals of the circuits on the cards.
Dip switches 4B, 5B, 8B and 9B are provided on the circuit cards 4, 5, 8 and 9, respectively, and are used to set the identification numbers ID=0, 1, 2 and 3 for the circuit card 4 for an apparatus #0, the circuit card 5 for an apparatus number #1, the circuit card 8 for an apparatus number #2 and the circuit card 9 for an apparatus number #3, respectively.
Bus/ID matching circuits 4D, 5D, 8D and 9D are provided on the circuit cards 4, 5, 8 and 9, respectively, and are each constructed such that, when it receives an input or output signal corresponding to the identification number ID set by the corresponding dip switch 4B, 5B, 8B or 9B, it establishes a connecting condition between the bus line 10 or 11 and the circuit of the corresponding circuit card.
With the construction of the circuit card mounting shelf apparatus described above, when the apparatus is to be assembled, the apparatus controlling circuit card 3, the circuit card 4 for an apparatus #0, the circuit card 5 for an apparatus number #1 and the interface card 6 are successively inserted in position into the basic shelf apparatus 1 so that the respective connecting terminals 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A are connected to the bus line 10.
Then, the dip switch 48 on the circuit card 4 for an apparatus #0 is set to the identification number ID=0. Thereafter, the dip switch 5B on the circuit card 5 for an apparatus #1 is set to the identification number ID=1.
Then, the interface card 7, the circuit card 8 for an apparatus #2 and the circuit card 9 for an apparatus #3 are successively inserted in position into the extension shelf apparatus 2 so that the respective connecting terminals 7A, 8A and 9A are connected to the bus line 11.
Then, the dip switch 8B on the circuit card 8 for an apparatus #2 is set to the identification number ID=2. Then, the dip switch 9B on the circuit card 9 for an apparatus #3 is set to the identification number ID=3.
The apparatus is thus completed. With the apparatus, the circuit card 4 for an apparatus #0, the circuit card 5 for an apparatus #1, the circuit card 8 for an apparatus #2 and the circuit card 9 for an apparatus #3 execute required calculating operations under the control of the apparatus controlling circuit card 3.
In this instance, control signals and input/output signals are transmitted by way of the bus lines 10, 12 and 11, and a matching operation is performed by each of the bus/ID matching circuits 4D, 5D, 8D and 9D based on the identification number set by the corresponding dip switch 4B, 5B, 8B or 9B so that communication of signals from and to a corresponding one of the circuit cards 4, 5, 8 and 9 is performed.
The conventional circuit card mounting shelf apparatus described above, however, has the following subjects to be solved.
In particular, since identification of each circuit card is performed based on an identification number ID set artificially by means of a dip switch in an assembling operation, a same ID may possibly be set to different circuit cards by an artificial error. This makes a factor of occurrence of a trouble upon maintenance or operation of the apparatus.
Accordingly, it is desirable for an identification number to be set not by an artificial operation upon assembly of the apparatus but automatically in accordance with the position of the circuit or the like.
Also it is necessary that the circuit card mounting shelf apparatus can be used even in such a case that an extension shelf apparatus is provided additionally to a basic shelf apparatus without disturbing such universality of the shelf apparatus realized with conventional apparatus that several circuit cards can be installed arbitrarily.